As the GAFA barely emerge from a historic hearing before the US Congress in the context ofa gigantic antitrust investigation, New York State recently revealed unprecedented new bill aimed at facilitating prosecution of tech giants, report The Guardian.
New York’s current antitrust laws are outdated
Currently under discussion by the New York Senate Consumer Protection Committee, new bill S8700A would update current antitrust laws, deemed obsolete by Senator Mike Gianaris, who is at the origin of the project. He specifies in particular that the power granted to the giants of the technological sector ” grew to dangerous levels “And that it is now necessary to” control“. Going into more detail, he explains:
“Our antitrust laws in New York are a century old and they were built for a completely different economy. Much of the problem today in the 21st century is the one-sided action of some of these freak tech companies and this bill would, for the first time, allow New York to engage in law enforcement. antitrust for unilateral action. “
Currently, in order to be able to take legal action under existing antitrust laws, two actors need to work together to conduct anti-competitive behavior on pricing, for example. However, if companies decide to undervalue the prices of their products, to the point of suffering losses, with the sole aim of driving out competition, then legal action is difficult to envisage at present. Yet this is significant anti-competitive behavior.
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Letitia James, Attorney General of New York, also supports this bill: “ For over 100 years, our antitrust laws have served as essential protection for consumers and small businesses against the uncontrolled power of large corporations that seeks to stifle competition and thereby limit consumer choice. While our state’s antitrust laws remain essential to these protections, we support legislation to strengthen them further to meet the challenges of today’s economy.« .
An example for the rest of the United States?
New York is known to be the financial center of the United States, as well as one of the most important technological centers in the country. In adopting a new, stronger antitrust law adapted to its time, it could serve as an example for other states in the United States and pave the way for more stringent general legislation for GAFAs. A news that the giants would surely have done well, and especially Amazon, which is at the center of a new investigation by California, New York State and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Point out that Bill S8700A will likely be discussed by the New York Senate from August, but it is unlikely to be adopted until next year.
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